'If progressives want to influence defense they need to get on the committees': Democrats are reeling after coming away from negotiations empty handed while Republicans secured a $25billion boost
Democrats need to 'get on the defense committees' if they want to shape policy, experts have said after the party came away from negotiations empty handed while Republicans secured a $25 billion boost.
Progressives were largely absent from the process of writing the final version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, an annual must-pass piece of legislation.
As a result their priorities were left out of the final bill, while conservatives landed big wins - including a five percent increase in spending despite Democrats pushing for cuts.
The Senate voted 89 to 10 on Wednesday to authorize $770 billion in defense spending over the next fiscal year.
Among the additions, Republicans secured safeguards for soldiers who refuse to comply with Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for the armed forces.
Meanwhile a left-wing effort to ban the military from supporting the Saudi-led war against the Houthis in Yemen did not make it into the final draft.
'If progressives ever want to get serious about influencing defense, they must develop the expertise to know what to change and how to change it,' said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He told Defense One: 'That means they need to get on the defense committees and start shaping defense policy and spending bills from the inside. Offering amendments on the floor is not an effective way to do it.
Democrat top brass: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
'Saying you want to cut 10 percent of the defense budget without having a plan for what specifically you would cut is just posturing. At this point, I think defense is just not that important to progressives one way or the other. They are spending far more time and energy on domestic issues.'
Although Democrats hold a narrow majority in the House Armed Services Committee, and have just one fewer seat than the Republicans in the Senate committee - progressive presence is lacking.
Except for a few heavyweight left-wingers like Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) few progressive liberals serve on these committees which hold the reins on military legislation.
Despite this some Democrats were surprised that they came away with nothing.
The amendment to end support for Saudi Arabia's war in the Yemen was cut out.
However, a similar effort in 2019 was supported by then-vice presidential national security advisors Jake Sullivan and Colin Kahl, who are now serving the White House as national security advisor and Pentagon policy chief respectively.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) who backed the Yemen policy told Defense One: 'My amendment was stripped out in conference ... I understand why it was stripped with Trump. I don't understand why it was stripped this time.'
Throughout the year progressives publicly railed against defense spending while failing to get work done behind closed doors.
In August, Democrat Representatives Mark Pocan (Wisc.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.) wrote to the House Armed Services Committee slamming it for authorizing $25 billion more than Biden requested.
'At a time when America's largest national security threat is a global pandemic, our spending priorities should embrace efforts such as increased COVID vaccination efforts abroad instead of continually increased military spending,' the letter signed by 27 Democrat lawmakers said.
Of those two dozen lawmakers, only Khanna - who is vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - serves on the House Armed Services Committee.
Rep. Ro Khanna (pictured at a summit in Portugal in November 2019) said progressives needed 'a more compelling message than just saying, "Cut, cut, cut," without a reorientation of a smarter defense strategy'
The NDAA has become law every year for six decades and is written by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
While lawmakers who are not part of those committees can push for amendments on the House floor, it is much more difficult for them to secure policy changes.
The committees are able to limit the number of amendments and shape the broad outlines of the legislation.
Khanna told Defense One that progressives needed 'a more compelling message than just saying, "Cut, cut, cut," without a reorientation of a smarter defense strategy.'
Biden is expected to sign the bill, but the White House did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Below are some of the measures included in the sixty-first annual defense bill.
Military hardware
Congress made a big investment in Boeing this year with a combined more than $1.5 billion going toward 17 fighter jets - five F-15EX aircraft which were only first launched in February, and 12 F/A-18E/F 'Super Hornets.'
Lockheed Martin is also producing three military transport aircraft, including one capable of flying extended distances.
Lawmakers are also putting $250 million in for two new King Stallion CH-53K helicopters as well as 'additional funds' to enhance the US supply of Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, according to a summary of the legislation.
It also authorizes $323 million to purchase two MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial systems - colloquially known as drones.
The military is investing in its battle-ready presence in the water with $9.6 billion toward eight missile destroyers as well as support vessels including a fleet oiler for refueling and two expeditionary fast transports to move people and machinery.
They're also procuring two Virginia-class nuclear submarines at $6.6 billion.
The chart below breaks down some of the spending on the military's vast fleet of land, air and sea vehicles.
Amid reports Russia and China are quickly and aggressively building up their presence in space, this year's NDAA includes provisions to strengthen American capabilities in the sphere as well.
It authorizes an additional $6 billion for 'laser communications in space' as well as a $10 million increase toward 'bridg[ing] space protection gaps' for the US Space Force.
Russia blew up one of its own satellites on Monday, November 15, using a missile. Cosmos 1408, a defunct spy satellite launched in 1982, was the destroyed target, which resulted in a field of 1,500 pieces of debris endangering the crew of the ISS
Last month Russia blew up a satellite, the force of which forced astronauts on the International Space Station to take shelter for a short time. The move angered global security experts and alarmed US officials.
UFOs, which the government now classifies as UAFs or 'Unidentified Areal Phenomena,' are also mentioned briefly in the bill.
It tasks the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence with taking 'action to address' UAFs in the name of national security.
Russia and Ukraine
Arguments over how to deter Russian aggression toward Ukraine and rein in Vladimir Putin are among the biggest roadblocks the bill has faced.
Some of the strengthened provisions in the 2022 defense budget to keep Russia in check includes a prohibition on using any US funds 'for any activity that recognizes the sovereignty of the Russian Federation over Crimea,' which Putin illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014 following the country's democratic revolution.
Russia's military buildup at Ukraine's border in recent months also motivated a $50 million increase to the $250 million the bill was already allocating toward the former Soviet satellite country.
At least $75 million of that will have to be spent on 'defensive lethal capabilities,' the bill dictates.
Russian troops take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia, Friday, Dec. 10
A Ukrainian soldier, who goes by the nickname Chorny, walks in a trench on the front line on December 12
China and Taiwan
Security negotiations over an increasingly competitive and hostile China also held up the bill's passage. The Pentagon has called China a 'pacing challenge' on multiple occasions, and the bill indicates lawmakers want a closer eye on new developments there.
To discourage Beijing from its growing encroachment on the South China Sea and US Allies in the region, Congress allocated $7.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative.
It also includes language allowing the US to resist China taking unilateral action on Taiwan, directing American officials to avoid a 'fait accompli' about the island's fate.
The bill also requires the Pentagon to produce a report comparing the research and design of military technologies between Beijing and Washington as well as an annual report 'on military and security developments involving China.'
It also commissions an annual briefing by the Pentagon chief to the Senate and House Armed Services committees on how to best strengthen ties with Taiwan.
The Secretary of Defense is also required 'to provide an assessment of Taiwan's defensive asymmetric capabilities and a plan for assisting Taiwan with the improvement of such capabilities.'
In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel is seen patrolling in the South China Sea, taken sometime April 13-14, 2021. US Allies in the region are growing increasingly concerned about Beijing's military presence in the region
Havana Syndrome
Lawmakers are also taking an interest in Havana Syndrome, the mysterious ailment that's plagued US government officials and diplomats overseas in places like Cuba, Austria and Russia.
People seemingly afflicted by 'Havana Syndrome' have reported symptoms like nausea, vertigo, hearing and sight issues and a ringing of the ears known as tinnitus.
The 2022 NDAA orders Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to create a 'cross-functional team' to examine military-related cases of Havana Syndrome - referred to in the text and in formal settings as 'anomalous health incidents,' or AHI.
It also calls on Biden to appoint a 'Interagency Coordinator for Anomalous Health Incidents' dedicated to the matter.
US intelligence officials still haven't released an official explanation for what is sickening dozens of Americans stationed overseas, though one theory involves targeted 'microwave' attacks from Russia.
However, the explanation lacks evidence in some of the reported cases and the intel community has not even been able to confirm they were attacks in the first place.
Sexual Assault
How to address pervasive sexual violence in the military has been a big topic of discussion over the last year.
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Joni Ernst of Iowa have been the main proponents of reforming the military justice system, particularly when it comes to sexual assault.
As a result the bill now removes the decision to prosecute sexual crimes from the military's chain of command - though Gillibrand wanted it to go further and include all felonies.
It also requires the Pentagon to track allegations of retaliation against victims of assault or harassment as well as third-party individuals who have reported an incident.
The bill also establishes a safe tip line for reporting assault or harassment and mandates the development of personnel training programs aimed at reducing sexual assault.
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